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and communicating
• Concept- refers to the mental grouping of similar objects, events and people.
• Prototype- the mental image or best example that incorporates all the features we associate with a
category
• Algorithm- step-by-step procedures that will guarantee a solution. Usually long.
• Heuristic- a speedier, more error prone version of algorithms. By reducing the number of options and
then applying trial and error, the result may be found.
• Insights -flashes of inspiration.
• Confirmation bias- the tendency to search for information that confirms one’s perceptions. Peter
Watson revealed this principle when he gave university students wrong formulas to work with and found
that the students tended to research examples to defend these theories.
• Fixation- the inability to see a problem from a new perspective, it impedes our process to problem
solve. Influenced by mental sets and functional fixedness.
• A mental set - predisposes how we think. It refers to our tendency to approach a problem from a
particular way that we have been successful in the past.
• Functional fixedness- the tendency to think of things only in terms of their usual functions.
Stereotypes also limit our thinking.
• Representativeness heuristic -demands you to use rapid judgment, while leaving out certain
relevant information. By judging the likelihood of things in terms of how well they seem to represent, or
math prototypes. Overrides the usage of logic and statistics.
• The availability heuristic -states that anything that increases the ease of our retrieving information
can increase its perceived availability. If it comes more easily to our mind, we tend to think that it is
more common.
• Overconfidence -the tendency to overestimate the accuracy of our knowledge and judgments.
• Framing - the way we present an issue. Just like how something is “framed” as in framing of a
picture. If the picture is of fruits and the frame looks like an interwoven wooden thread, then the picture
looks very natural. If the picture is placed around a frame that is grey and metallic-like, the effect is very
different. Just like if I “frame” the statement: there is a 70% chance of winning as opposed to 30%
chance of losing.
• Belief Bias-It is the tendency for our beliefs to distort our logic.
• Belief perseverance -our tendency to hold onto beliefs even when we are presented with
contradicting evidence. Considering evidence supporting the opposite position is a remedy for this type
of bias.
• Language - Our spoken, written or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate
meaning.
• Phonemes - the smallest sound units in language.
• Morphemes -the smallest units of language that carries meaning. Includes prefixes and suffixes.
• Grammar: Rules in a language that allows us to properly understand it.
• Semantics: How we get meaning from morphemes, words, and sentences.
• Syntax: How to combine words into meaningful sentences.
• Babbling Stage: (3-4 months after birth) A stage in speech development where the infant utters
sounds unlike the family language.
• One-word stage: (1-2 years old) A stage in speech development where the infant speaks single
words
• Two-word stage: (2 years old) Infants speak in two-word phrases that resemble Telegraphic speech
– speech like a “telegram” I.e. Want candy, me play, no eat…etc
• Linguistic determinism- states language determines how we think.
Thinking
Our cognitive system receives, perceives, and retrieves information, which we then use to think and
communicate, sometimes wisely, sometimes foolishly. This chapter has explores how we form
concepts, solve problems, and make judgments and decisions.
Concepts
Concepts simplify and order the world by organizing it into a hierarchy of categories. Concepts often
form around prototypes, or best examples of a category. Matching objects and ideas with prototypes is
an efficient way of making snap judgments about what belongs in a specific category.
Solving Problems
When faced with a novel situation for which no well-learned response will do, we may use such
strategies as algorithms and heuristics. Sometimes the solution comes in a flash of insight. We do,
however, face obstacles to successful problem solving. The confirmation bias predisposes us to verify
rather than challenge our hypotheses. And fixations, such as mental set and functional fixedness, may
prevent our taking a needed fresh perspective on a problem.
Belief Bias
We tend to show a belief bias in our reasoning, accepting as more logical those conclusions that agree
with our beliefs. We also exhibit belief perseverance, clinging to our ideas because the explanation we
accepted as valid lingers in the mind even after the basis for the ideas has been discredited. Yet
despite our capacity for error and our susceptibility to bias, human cognition is remarkably efficient and
adaptive. As we gain expertise in a field, we grow adept at making quick, shrewd judgments.
Language
Language Structure
Language is built of phonemes (basic speech sounds), morphemes (elementary units of meaning), and
the semantics (rules for deriving meaning) and syntax (rules for word order) that make up grammar.
Language Development
Among the marvels of nature is a child’s ability to acquire language. The ease with which children
progress from the babbling stage through the one-word stage to the telegraphic speech of the two-word
stage and beyond has sparked a lively debate concerning how they do it. Behaviorist B. F. Skinner
proposed that we learn language by the familiar principles of association, reinforcement, and imitation.
Challenging this claim, linguist Noam Chomsky argued that children are biologically prepared to learn
words and use grammar. Cognitive neuroscientists emphasize that for mastery of grammar, the
learning that occurs during life’s first few years, when the brain is building a dense network of neuronal
connections, is critical.
We consider thinking and language in the same chapter, for they are hard to separate.
Thinking in Images
We sometimes think in images rather than in words, and we invent new words or new combinations of
old words to describe new ideas. So we might say that our thinking affects our language, which then
affects our thought.
Do Animals Think?
Evidence accumulates that primates at some level form concepts, display insight, create and use tools,
and transmit cultural innovations. Many researchers feel that great apes’ mental accomplishments rival
those of a 2-year-old human.